If you are initiating school change, consider using the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) as a guide through the process. And you'll find that Taking Charge of Change is the most readable introduction to this method of predicting teacher behavior during a change process.

Many school leaders and education researchers have turned to Taking Charge of Change when implementing a new program at a school. They find its lucid description of the CBAM provides concepts, tools, and techniques they can use to facilitate school change and improvement programs. As important, this book is written for working educators - whether they are in the school district central office or the principal's office or the classroom - who are responsible for leading a new program. Educators recognize their own school district in the fictional Springdale School District these authors invented to make CBAM concepts concrete.

Taking Charge of Change is a cornerstone in the school change literature for educators.

About the CBAM

The CBAM is a conceptual framework that describes, explains, and predicts probable teacher behaviors in the change process. The three principal diagnostic dimensions of the CBAM are:

Stages of Concern — Seven different reactions that educators experience when they are implementing a new program

Levels of Use — Behaviors educators develop as they become more familiar with and more skilled in using an innovation

Innovation Configurations — Different ways in which teachers adapt innovations to their unique situations

While there are many models of school change processes available to education leaders and researchers, the CBAM is among the most respected. Refined through years of research and testing, the CBAM and related tools help school leaders plan school change by providing instruction in procedures. Researchers can and do rely upon these classics to track and report their findings.

Other CBAM Publications:

SEDL offers several publications so you can apply the CBAM when you introduce a new program, undertake research in a school setting, or launch an innovation in a school. The complete set of CBAM literature includes: